Sermons from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Raleigh, NC

Gospel - Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Compassion can help us live from Rumi's field right in the middle of the brokenness and complications of daily life, in the middle of the reality of the news, in the middle of the reality of bad decisions and immorality and disaster. Compassion helps us to see our relationships first, to see the imago dei - the image of God - in each other, no matter how wrong we happen to be in the moment. Compassion helps us to see past our guilt and shame and ignorance and selfishness to the place where our souls are the same. Compassion sees the pain underneath the sins. It sees past the drama to who we are, and it opens us up with love.

Gospel - Luke 13:1-9

We must be people addicted to hope, not certainty.

Gospel - Luke 13:31-35

God in Jesus will gather humanity under the wings of the cross.

Gospel - Luke 4:1-13

(Due to technical issues, the Gospel is not included in this recording.)

In the wilderness, we find out who Jesus is not. He’s not self-serving. He’s not going to seek personal political power. And he will not avoid the cross….even when he is starving and exhausted and just plain weary. Jesus is a rock. He is steady, sure, clear on who he is, even if we don’t know yet.

He is a rock in a weary land.

Gospel - Luke 9:28-43a

The transfiguration is all about God in Jesus being so much more than we ever thought possible.

Gospel - Luke 6:27-38

In our own daily brutal and beautiful lives, loving our enemies doesn’t mean we have to like them, feel warm and fuzzy about them, or even “get over” whatever they have done to us, as if that is a quick and easy thing to do. It means that, despite how wrong they were or how wrong they are or how wrong they will be, we seek their good. When they treat us poorly, we treat them well. We don’t have to be friends. We may even continue to be enemies. And still, we love. We seek the good…

We love because God loves us – extremely, even when we act like God’s enemy, even when we neglect or harm the Jesus we meet in our neighbors, even when no one would recognize us as Christians. God loves us, even then. God is always seeking our good in relationship with the good of the whole world.

Gospel - Luke 6:17-26

Pr. Sara reminds us that Jesus’ invitation is for our whole selves, which means we’re all on the same level when it comes to God...whether we want to be or not.

Gospel - Luke 5:1-11

Jesus is a bit uncontrollable, so be careful when he steps into the boat.

Gospel - Luke 4:21-30

It’s no wonder they want to throw Jesus off a cliff. This Gospel message is hard. It’s hard because it’s not fair, it’s gracious. It’s not even handed, it’s abundant. It’s not just for us, it’s for everybody…even the people we know don’t deserve it.

The truth is, none of us deserves this grace. None of us deserves this forgiveness. None of us deserves this indescribable love that we can’t escape, even when we are at our worst.

And yet, it is here for us all. Restoration, healing, forgiveness, newness of life. It’s ours. Now. And it’s theirs, now too.

Gospel - Luke 4:14-21

God sees who we really are: the whole picture that includes the scars of the tough things we’ve been through, but that also includes who we were created to be and the gorgeous potential of this world for goodness and mercy, for peace that results from justice, for kindness and compassion and all people living full, connected, whole lives.

God sees the people we are meant to be. God sees the world we are meant to have.